Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-04-14
EDUCATIONAL.
Tho Significance OF the ''Tscading Circle"
Movement and It's Influence on
Literature.
Price-List OF Commodities in the school
room--Notss on Various Educational
Topics.
READING CIRCLES.

t
by Hon. Thomas w. Bicknell. of Bos-
ton. His theme was Teachers
Reading and Reading Circles.
He said that the literature OF peo-
pie was q measure OF lis advancement,
and often survives national life rs an
evidence of the intellectual wealth of
its creators and posseSsors. Athens
and Rome live in the works of their
poets and historians. A profession has
no better measure OF its power and in
flGence than the writer's who have
honorcd it, and the writings which
embody its principles, laws, and meth
DDS of operation. The literature of
the law has made its students learned
and its professors distinguished To
read Blackstone, Coke, Mansfield. and
! Webster, is liberal education Medi-
cine and theology have their sacred
| books, their Mischnas, which lay down
laws, doctrines, ethical precepts, illus
trated by examples for all who would
be wise or great in each Of these pro-
| LESSONS. An historic literature pre-
serves professional esprit dc corps, and
maintains its real dignity more than
wealth or official ranks.
The teaching guild or profession of
| America numbers 10000 PERSONS
four times as many as the legal pro-
! fession, and five times the Clergy. Its
influence is more powerful. in many
respects, than all o,aer professional
| classes combined, in chat it touches the
larger portion Of the children of the
nation, at the most receptive period of
life, and aids in determining the schol-
4 arship, character, and conduct of the
/ people in largest measure. Yet its
great lack hitherto has been, not an
enthusiastic following, but educated,
well-read followers; and this has been
their misfortune, rather than their
fault. The practical duties of the
daily life of teaching have DESTROYED
creative literary promise, and the toll
of the schoo!roOm has untitled for the
studies of the philosopher Our pro-
fession has been overworked, and its
| vital forces exhausted, so that until
within fifty years we had no literature
worth the naming or reading. Think
ing, reading. working, are real COM
panions in best service. The intel
lectual activity Of cur day has brought
| forth literature which is being
shaped into what may be styled pro-
fessiomal, and has also awakened a zeal
| for its possession. The educational
renaissance OF tire eonsnry il taking
place, and tie teachers oi the country
are alive 70 It's great signiiicance; and
! the Reading Circle movement is the
greatest evidence Of the depth Of the
movement.
Thomas Arnold has said, at is clear
that in whatever il is Our duty to act,
those matters also i; is our duty to
study" And in speaking 20 a body Of
teachers of the highest rank III the
commonwealth, ! am sure that it win
not be accepted as a trnism that our
reading and studying should have
much to do with the work and results
of our predecessors and with the prin-
ciples which have hacn Wrou rat oat in
| the Thought aad experience Of others
Teaching viii be numbered among the
professions when it has literature,
aud it, iiseatiates read il, both in It's
textual and its professional aspects;
| for without written principles aud wen
established traditional practice, the
profession is empirical and the pro-
| fessor Il the0riSt The literature of
our profession is now rapidly in.
creasing, both in book and periodical
4 form, and the teachers are becoming
readers of it. The printed pages on
education. its history, philosophy, and
! practice are hundred TO one to those
of ten years ago.
The lieaiilng Circle movement began
in Boston in the unobtrusive but most
benelicent work Of the Society for the
Encouragement Of Home Reading and
Study, followed by the Chautauqua
movement of DR.. Vincent, which now
! embraces one hundred thousand read
ors. Then has followed the Teachers
Reading Circles, which started in Ohio
in 1888, and are now established in
fifteen states, with courses Of study in
| pedagogics, science, history, art, and
literature, examinations, certificates,
etc. At least $4,000 teachers in the
United States are now reading method
icaliy and professionally, thereby in
creasing teaching capacity and power
| The significance Of the movement con-
sists in the prompt creation of a val
! liable literature, srising at the call Of
the best thinkers and also the sponta-
neity of the reading revival in all quar-
tiers. The r. G.. has come to stay, and
in its issue we shall have a literature
which shall lie worthy of the educators
of great people, and a profession
founded on the apostles and prophets
of teaching which shall rank with those
now called the learned guild.
PRICE-LIsT or COMMODITIES IL THE
sCHooLRooM.
Not long ago / saw problem on
the blackboard III which the price of
cow was called for. Several attending
circumstances in the question made the
latter rather involved and the answer
to the problem proved to be: Price Of
COW, six cents. That set ne TO think
ing. Thought !. is Il right to thus
corrupt the chiid's conception Of the
eternal fitness Of things? suggested
to the teacher 70 reserve 2 space 81 two
feet square on her very spacious black
board, head it Price List and enter
upon this space few quotations Of
prices Of commodities, such as flour.
butter, eggs, pork, beef, and the like,
and induce the pupils to consult the
daily papers in order TO suggest
changes occasionally. Thus, for in
between % aud 50 cents a pound
during the winter, and ~ TO Il cents
in the summer. She woald find the
price Of flour per barrel to vary be-
tween $3.50 and 5000. as supply and
demand dictated
This would be au Indirect way Of
giving most useful information upon
subjects intimately connected with the
demands Of after life. Ii would,
furthermore, establish valuable and